Ireland’s 2018 Six Nations Grand Slam-winning head coach Joe Schmidt has won the accolade of World Rugby Coach of the Year at a glittering awards ceremony in Monte Carlo.
Ahead of the presentation the 53-year-old coach was one of the favourites for the award after leading Ireland to 11 Test wins out of 12 this year and second place in the world rankings.
Those wins brought highlight after highlight, including that historic third Grand Slam for Ireland in Rugby’s Greatest Championship and a first series win over Australia for 39 years – a 2-1 success Down Under.
Just a few weeks ago Schmidt and Ireland created more history, beating the All Blacks on Irish soil for the first time in 113 years as part of an autumn clean sweep of four Tests.
The head coach wasn’t there to pick up his award, but leading Ireland player Johnny Sexton commented on the accolade.
“I’ve worked with him for eight years, and I can’t speak highly enough of him,” said Sexton.
“In terms of helping me as a player, no one’s had a bigger influence on my career.
“There are obviously other influences, but it’s been an incredible journey with him, because that’s what it’s been.
“He came into Leinster, we got to six finals in three years, we won four, lost two.”
Further to Ireland’s incredible year of success, Schmidt has overseen the development of fearsome strength in depth for the national side in a golden period for Irish rugby.
After that intoxicating victory over New Zealand a much-changed Ireland defeated the USA 57-14 and are heading into World Cup year in superb shape.
On a night of success for the country Ireland also took home the Team of the Year award.
When asked what he thought the highlight of 2018 was, Ireland skipper Rory Best commented: “It’s been an unbelievable 12 months for us and I think probably the Grand Slam was enormous.
“I think to win it at Twickenham, an unbelievably tough place to go, and win with all the pressure that was around – that Grand Slam was just really, really special.
“We’ve now got a Six Nations to defend in the new year and a long hard pre-season before we get to that World Cup, it’s been a fantastic year and we’ll probably reflect back now and enjoy this evening!”
